Stephan Schwab

During our recent meeting with the administrator of the Chepo district we looked at the river crossing and also at ways to avoid a quebrada – a little creek – that caused far too much erosion to the dirt road that was created about 2 or 3 years ago.

The district administrator owns a strip of land himself and to access it he had invested into building a dirt road. This road crosses over the land of four other farmers.

The following picture shows the existing road after the quebrada. That obstacle is hidden behind the bushes and below the place from where I took the picture. The road makes a right turn to enter the forest again and finally connect to the road we are currently building.

Our party went up a little hill to checkout a alternative path.

Soon we arrived at the end of the path a bulldozer had created and looked at the trail ahead. It does look very promising. We think that we don’t have to drive heavy equipment through the jungle to establish an access road. If we choose the right path on top of a ridge then the road will kind of establish itself just by using it. It is not our intention to build a paved road anytime soon. We are just looking for something like a better trail to get through with the Jeep.

That trail needs a bit of cleaning left and right which is easily done with a machete. What lies ahead is already open.

The trail makes a long turn from the right of the picture to the center and then goes right to cross an open field where it will then enter the forest in the background. We’ve been there before on horseback. The trail is wide enough for the Jeep and only minor work is required. There are some fallen trees and some brushwood but that’s about it.

Here is a picture of our party with the district administrator Olmedo Barrios in the center.

People were talking about a shorter path by cutting through the forest which can be seen in the very background (look at the center of the picture above). That forest belongs to our farm. We are going to explore that – just in case – although I have some doubts whether that might be a better route.

Here is an image from Google Earth with red pins marking some locations. Let me explain:

The pin in the lower left corner is the village of Buenos Aires. From there go straight up and a bit to the right to find another red pin. That’s where we looked at the trail you see in the pictures above. The crossing over the river is a bit to the west from there. The red pins to the east mark the trail through the forest that we are currently opening up. Go further to the east and you’ll see a dark line which is the Chuluganti river and the pin next to it is where the farm is located. The farm is all the white area from there to the north.

The suggestion has been to cut straight instead of making a long winding road. That would lead us directly to the farm but unfortunately the river has some very steep banks left and right further upstream. That’s why I have some doubts.

If you own cattle, you need to put your brand on them. That’s a requirement to claim ownership and avoid theft. For that you need to register the brand with the local authorities where the farm is located.

This is how it works in Chepo, Panama.

First you need to present your identification and pay a fee. An office clerk fills out a number of forms and sends you to the cashier.

After paying $16 one takes the receipt and the forms to the secretary of the district administrator who will make a new entry into the book of brands. As you can see that’s done in handwriting and the brands are drawn on top of the sentences that describe the official act. Most brands are simply letters while a few use a symbol. One farmer before us actually registered the Dollar sign as his brand. So let’s hope he makes a lot. ;-)

As the iron has the brand upside down here the secretary is using paper and a pencil to obtain an imprint. She will later cut out the imprint and clip it to the page in the book – the same way she did with the dollar sign brand.

The last step is to draw the sign onto the bottom of the official act that will then be signed by the district administrator.

Our brand is a large C with a star in the center. It is derived from the the Caimito fruit that has a star like pattern when cut in half.

During Carnival almost all of Panama flees the city and drives to the interior of the country to enjoy Carnival celebrations. Each time on major holidays police is conducting security operations and that means checkpoints. As we were driving towards the district of Chepo we passed through about 4 different checkpoints and at most a police officer wanted to see the drivers license.

But it is not only about having a valid drivers license. Panama has a new system that allows police officers on the street to check online whether the person has some arrest warrant or any other issues. According to the news they are catching people who are wanted for something left and right.

Due to the large number of peopling driving around without a license or without a valid one you can see a lot of tow trucks at each of these checkpoints. Police were inspecting the trunk of most vehicles as well. Not ours ;-) In a Jeep Wrangler there is not enough space – they know that. Plus we don’t look like their usual customer so we usually get to pass with a friendly “Good Morning” or “Good Afternoon”.